US Army testing precision guided ‘smart’ rifles - report

The US military is investing in an advanced firearm that comes equipped with an internal computer system as well as sensors that gauge environmental factors to help a soldier aim, according to a technology startup known as Tracking Point.

Tracking Point has announced that the military has purchased six
of its so-called “smart” rifles, which are priced at between
$10,000 and $27,000 each. That’s a hefty fee compared to the
hundreds of dollars the Army pays to fit soldiers with the usual
M-16 A2 rifle or M-4 Carbine, but the Tracking Point model
reportedly comes fitted with aiming technology so advanced that
the military may hope a $10,000 investment will help save money
on ammunition.

A shooter using a smart sniper rifle would merely need to tag a
target viewable on a screen that’s visible when they are looking
through the gun’s scope. The internal computer system will then
tell the shooter exactly how to hold the gun and when to press
the trigger.

Tracking Point displayed the weapon at the annual SHOT show
weapons convention in Las Vegas, Nevada, earlier this month.
DefenseTech.com reported that US Army officials bought six of the
precision-guided firearms.

“Rifles can communicate with each other,” said Oren
Schauble, a company marketing official. “We can enable a more
information-driven combat in the sense that you can tag targets.
You can pass off those targets to someone else with a scope.
There’s a whole layer of communication that comes with having a
rifle that can designate and track targets.”

Part of the motivation behind developing the precision-guided
rifle, the company said, is that battlefields are becoming
increasingly complex and, more importantly, connected. A
Linux-powered computer in the gun scope collects ballistic data,
battlefield images, and records atmospheric conditions such as
cant, inclination, and even the tilt of the earth at that precise
moment.

Schauble said the company has sold approximately 500 guns to a
clientele that includes wealthy collectors and safari hunters.

The guns are also wireless, which means the footage and
information can be live-streamed to a smart phone, tablet, or
laptop.

“The only way to guarantee accuracy is to control all the
variables,” Scott Calvin, a Tracking Point representative,
told Defense Tech. The only major factor that the gun cannot
track is wind speed, which must be entered manually, Calvin
added.

As with any new product that has its proponents, there are
skeptics who assert that the technology has gone too far by
eliminating the need for patience and calm in a high-pressure
situation.

“It’s the traditional shooting fish in a barrel or the
sitting duck,” hunter Chris Wilbratte told NPR. “I mean,
there’s no skill in it, right? It’s just you point, you let the
weapon system do its thing and you pull the trigger and now
you’ve killed a deer. There’s no skill.”

West Point military academy graduate and Vietnam War veteran
Chris Frandsen said the Tracking Point gun should be prohibited
in the civilian world because a criminal could use it and
potentially remain undetected from a faraway distance.

“Where we have mental health issues, where we have children
that are disassociated from society early on, when we have
terrorists who have political cards to play, we have to restrict
weapons that make them more efficient in terrorizing the
population,” he said.